


that one person

by gigglesandfreckles



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: this is post AOTC but pre TCW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gigglesandfreckles/pseuds/gigglesandfreckles
Summary: Anakin gets assigned to lecture a class of younglings, but he's not the only one who doesn't want to be there.or Ahsoka Tano is done with Jedi sh!t and tries to leave, but this time it's just a classroom and not the entire Order and there's a lot less tears and pain
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 164





	that one person

It was so cold.

But that didn’t make sense, because she always kept him so warm, wrapped up tight through the biting Tatooine nights. Only having one bed to share between the two of them was a part of slavery that Ani nor Shmi ever minded. 

The single thin sheet was always so crisp when they finally finished whatever odd tasks Watto had created for them and settled down for the day. Shmi never learned to read, but it was her routine to flip through the battered magazine Ani had snatched from a garbage bin three years ago. The pages were falling apart, but Shmi enjoyed the normalcy of flipping through every night and looking at the pictures. 

Ani would catapult into the bed, rolling over her until he was in the small spot next to the wall. She always complained about his bouncing on the bad, but the light in her eyes always betrayed her attempts at sternness with her only son. She opened her arms, and he nestled in on her shoulder, looking at the pictures of exotic ships until his breathing evened out and his eyes fluttered shut. 

But her warmth, her softness. It was missing.

Something was wrong.

Where was he? Where was she?

“Anakin?”

He shot up, searching the room for his mother to no avail. He switched his mission to search for the man who was calling his name. There shouldn’t be a man here. It was just him and his mom. It had always been him and his mom. 

This man, whoever he was. He did something to her. He took her or killed her or--

“Anakin!”

“Who are you?” he bellowed into the darkness. As his demand left his lips, though, he realised he knew the answer.

His eyes further adjusted to the darkness of his room; his small quarters in the Jedi Temple.

“Anakin, are you alright? It’s me--”

“Obi-Wan.” Anakin nodded, wiping a hand across his face. “I’m sorry. I...I was confused.”

His master stepped fully into the room and switched on the small lamp in the corner. “Are you having the nightmares again?”

“They’re not nightmares.”

“Anakin, your mother...she is no longer living. It’s not wise to dwell on the past.” The older Jedi’s tone was kind and Anakin knew meant well, but there was no way Obi-Wan could ever understand what Anakin went through every night.

“No. It’s nothing.” Anakin swung his legs over the side of the bed, blinking the remaining sleep from his eyes and trying to ground himself. 

This was reality. He wasn’t that little boy on Tatooine anymore and hadn’t been for a long time.

“I’ve told you before. Meditating always seems to--”

“I don’t need to meditate, Master.” Anakin snapped, his voice clipping out a bit sharper than was probably appropriate for a Padawan speaking to his Master. But Anakin and Obi-Wan had never been like most Padawan-Master pairs.

Even so, Obi-Wan’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Perhaps if you worked to clear your head during meditation hour, you wouldn’t be sleeping through lessons.”

“What?” Anakin’s face scrunched up as he walked across the room toward the fresher.

“It’s oh-nine-hundred.” Obi-Wan crossed his arms, waiting for his student’s realisation. When it did not come, he continued, “And today is--”

“Kriff.”

Ah, there it was.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Anakin groaned, redirecting his path toward the minimalist closet. 

“I didn’t know it was my responsibility to be your personal alarm clock.” Obi-Wan leaned against the doorframe, watching his padawan’s frantic movements with amusement. “Besides, I left the quarters hours ago.”

“Well, congratulations to you for that.” the younger Jedi rolled his eyes, ripping a simple dark robe out of the closet.

“You certainly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” Obi-Wan mused. “Not a good example for the younglings.”

“They’re five-years-old. They don’t even use training sabers yet. I’m not worried about upsetting them with my sarcasm.”

“Children are more intuitive than you give them credit for,” Obi-Wan called over the sound of the water as Anakin shut the door to the fresher. “Besides, you slept right through the year five class.”

The door opened with a thud and Anakin stood half-dressed, a toothbrush hanging from his mouth.

“I miss’ da whole ting?” he mumbled, incredulously. “Then why the hell am I in such a hurry to get ready?”

Obi-Wan picked up the small piece of wood on the table by Anakin’s bed. There were a few letters in basic carved into it. Anakin’s latest fiddling, no doubt. “Because,” he replied as he examined the wood in his hands, “the Clawmouse Clan lesson starts in twenty minutes and I thought you might want to at least change a few things in your lecture.”

The toothbrush hit the ground.

“Clawmouse Clan?” Anakin hit the sink in frustration, spitting into the sink. “They’re senior initiates!”

Obi-Wan set the wood back on the table, turning back toward Anakin with a frown. “You slept through Hawkbat. You’re lucky Master Yoda even bothered to reassign you. This is a requirement if you want to be approved for the trials.”

The younger Jedi sighed, shrugging into his robe. “I know, I know. I’m...sorry I let my frustration get the better of me. I’m the one who was irresponsible. I shouldn’t be impatient with you.” He lowered in his head in the way that had become so familiar to Obi-Wan. His student had more raw energy than was good for him and a temper to match it, but he always came back to the planet on his own, normally feeling great guilt.

“Or the younglings.” Obi-Wan reminded him.

Anakin nodded. 

“They already look up to you,” the older Jedi offered with an encouraging smile. “Just teach them something simple and genuine and they’ll be thankful.”

“I’m not like you, Master.” Anakin shook his head, looking wildly around the room. His lightsaber, no doubt, Obi-Wan realised. “Teaching younglings, it’s--there it is.” He used the Force (carelessly, Obi-Wan noted silently with a pained expression) to send the saber from the closet to his side, where he clipped it quickly. “It’s not for me.”

“You have so much to offer the next generation.”

“I can hardly handle the generation above me, old man.” Anakin bumped Obi-Wan’s shoulder playfully as he strode by, exiting the small room. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Master Windu and I are meditating at eleven if you want to--”

“See you at lunch!” Anakin repeated, jogging down the hall of the Temple.

…

“Respect him, you should. Listen. Watch. Much skill, Padawan Skywalker has. Show you today, he will.” Yoda nodded toward the corner where Anakin was hovering, trying to appear less uncomfortable on the outside than he did internally.

“Right. Er, thank you...Master.” He dipped his head toward Yoda who was already exiting the room. When he turned back toward the rest of the room, he almost vomited. 

Anakin Skywalker had faced bounty hunters and criminals from across the galaxy. He’d destroyed countless battle droids and fought in the Battle of Geonosis. He’d even faced off against Count Dooku.

But the dozen pre-teenaged younglings looking at him with wide eyes were enough to make him want to hand over his lightsaber right then and there.

“So, uh...today I’m going to show you how to--”

A hand shot up.

Anakin stopped talking and stared at the youngling with the raised hand. He was a small human, obviously still awaiting his growth spurt. Though Anakin was only a few years older than him, he towered over the child. 

Anakin looked towards Yoda’s seat in panic, before remembering that the Grand Master had left him alone. Defenseless.

“Yeah,” Anakin gulped, turning back to the youngling. “Did you have a...question?”

“Padawan Skywalker,” the boy chirped. “Is it true that you lost your hand?”

A few murmurs from the other younglings could be heard.

“Oh,” Anakin looked at his cybernetic hand clumsily. “Yeah, uh I---yes.”

The human boy didn’t look entirely satisfied with the simplicity of this answer, but he stayed quiet.

“So anyway, today I’m going to demonstrate some of the advanced form four technique that are useful for--”

Another hand popped up, this one green in colour.

“Yes?” Anakin nodded to the Rodian girl.

“Do you take it off when you sleep?”

“Take it off?”

“The hand.” She said, matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” He blinked. “Uh, it’s surgically implanted so...no. I sleep with it.” He paused for a moment. “Anyway, for advanced form four, it’s uh...it’s important that you--”

“Did Count Dooku know you were in his lineage?” This youngling didn’t even bother to raise her hand. Another human.

“I don’t k--”

“Master Yoda says that the bond between a master and a padawan is really hard to break, so what about a great-grand master and a great-grand padawan?”

Anakin considered this for a moment. “Well, I’ve never really thought about--”

“Count Dooku isn’t a Jedi anymore, so it’s not the same.” The first human boy piped up.

“Nuh uh,” the girl argued back, “Master Yoda says that even when a Jedi turns to the dark--”

“Well, Count Dooku is a Separatist now, so--”

“But the Separatists aren’t all dark-side users, so--”

“Is the hand made of metal?”

“Are you left-handed now?”

Anakin took an unconscious step back from the group. How did Master Yoda do this?

As thankful as he was that the Grand Master wasn’t there to see how out of control he had let the class get, he would gladly sacrifice his pride for some help right now. Younglings were terrifying.

Anakin was pulled from his panicked thoughts as he saw a flash of orange move toward the door. He shook his head and saw that it was a small Togruta female.

“Hey,” he called after her, not noticing that the rest of the class had gone quiet at her movement. “What are you doing?”

She turned around and fixed him with an unimpressed frown. “I’m leaving.”

“You’re…” Anakin scoffed. “You’re leaving?”

“You can’t just leave a lesson, Tano!” the Rodian girl called out.

“Watch me.” the Togruta offered a challenging smile and turned back for the door.

“Hey.” Anakin shouted in disbelief. “Get back here.”

Honestly, who did this girl think she was? He’d been a pretty unruly student (at least according to Master Yoda and Obi-Wan), but even he’d never left in the middle of a lesson.

“This is stupid,” the youngling sighed. Anakin’s eyebrows lifted at her blatant disrespect. “We were supposed to hear from Master Unduli about Force reflexes in conflict today. Then, you show up because apparently you slept through the class you were supposed to lecture.”

How did she even find out about that?

“We all know you’re just here to get credit so you can get knighted. You don’t want to teach us and no offense, but we don’t really want to listen to you teach us about a lightsaber form we’ve been doing for three years.”

Kriff, she was bold.

“Listen here, little one.” Anakin felt his temper begin to spike. “I don’t know what kind of lessons you’re used to, but when a Jedi is taking time to teach you--”

“You’re not even a Knight, though! You’re a Padawan.” She threw her hands up in frustration.

His cheeks heated up. As if it wasn’t enough that Obi-Wan wouldn’t recommend him for the trials, this youngling was insulting him about it in front of her initiate class. “I think it’s a good idea for you to join the rest of the group, young one.” His voice had dropped to be dangerously slow and he could tell from her expression that it had hit it’s mark. She gave a small nod and walked back to the center of the room.

“Actually,” he suddenly had an idea, “come up here.”

She looked up with big blue eyes of worry. “Wh--what?”

“Come here.” he repeated himself with a small smirk. He knew it was wrong to feel victory over a child, but he didn’t care. It felt good to regain a bit of control. “You’re gonna help me out today.”

“I don’t--”

“What’s your name?” he demanded, as she sulked to the front of the room. 

“Ahsoka,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” he said a bit harsher, not at all interested in this crestfallen shell of the spitfire he had just seen by the door. “Speak up.”

“My name’s Ahsoka,” she spat, raising her head to meet his gaze. There was a brightness in her eyes that he couldn’t help but be pulled to. This girl still had some fight in her after all. Good. “Ahsoka Tano.”

“All right, Ahsoka Tano.” He nodded curtly. “Since you’re so proficient in advanced form four, you’re going to be my partner today.”

Her eyes widened.

Part of him felt bad for purposefully humiliating her, but his ego was too wounded by her dramatics before to compel him to back down. “The rest of you...pair up.”

There was the sound of shuffling and murmuring as the younglings found partners and whispered hurriedly. Anakin heard Ahsoka’s name being said by several students and it didn’t sound like anything positive. 

The Force pricked at his gut and he could feel the pain in the Togruta next to him.

Suddenly, he felt horrible. This girl was obviously not a class favourite (though he certainly didn’t struggle to see why) and he’d only added injury to what seemed to be a pattern of pain.

“Opening positions. We’re taking it slow. Unmodified form four right now. Go ahead.” He instructed the room, before turning to his new partner. 

“Okay, Ahsoka,” he said, his voice a bit softer than before, “show me what you’ve got.”

She didn’t unclip her lightsaber, instead looking at his feet. “I’m...I’m sorry about before, Padawan Skywalker. I was out of line.”

“No kidding,” he snorted derisively. She looked up in surprise. “Does Master Yoda let you get away with that crap?”

She shook her head vigorously. “I don’t...I try to pay attention in his classes.”

“So when Yoda’s here, you’re game. But for every other teacher, you just walk out of the class?”

“No!” She shifted her weight in frustration. “I’m not...I’m not a brat.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” He was goading her, but this is what he wanted. The Force was pushing him toward her and he wanted to figure out why. What was so different about the little Togruta?

Her eyes flickered and he could see her fists clenching as she tried to get her anger under control. Anakin knew those exercises all too well. 

“I just didn’t see why I should waste an hour of my life listening to someone who doesn’t even wanna teach me anything!”

He withheld his grin, instead igniting his lightsaber. “So, just because I’m not a Knight, you don’t think I have anything to teach you?”

Her hand went for her own saber. “That’s not what I said.” she bit out. “I said you don’t want to teach me anything.”

“Says who?” He went to open position.

“Says for uh advanced form four, it’s uh...it’s important that uh you--”

He cut her off by connecting his saber with hers at position one. She was quick with her deflection. Impressive.

“Well, maybe I didn’t feel the need to prepare material for a class that was just gonna walk out on me.” He came down into position two. She easily blocked it.

“The class wouldn’t have done anything,” she grunted as he easily deflected her advance. “They would have continued to ask questions about your metal hand for the whole kriffing hour.”

Anakin didn’t withhold his laughter here, countering her. “Yeah, what’s the deal with that? Other Jedi have lost limbs before.”

“But you’re mysterious.” She rolled her eyes, parrieing back.

He laughed again. “Ready to learn?”

She quirked an eyebrow as their blades connected between them again. Anakin could feel her energy buzzing with excitement in the Force and he was surprised to find how excited this made him.

He wasn’t in the habit of telling Obi-Wan he was right, but maybe he could throw his Master a bone by telling him teaching was at least a little fun.

“I’m gonna show you the modifications, now.”

Her energy fizzled a bit. “I know the modifications. Master Secura went over it a few months ago.”

“Not those modifications.” He shook his head, stepping back from her and steadying his lightsaber parallel with his body. “My modifications.”

He watched her try to remain neutral, but he saw the way her eyes brightened. “I’m listening.”

“You’ve learned form five?”

“A little bit of Shien.”

“Well, this is Djem So.”

“I thought these were form four modifications.” She narrowed her eyes, skeptically.

“Listen.” He chastised. “Shien is good for blocking blaster bolts, but Djem So is what you need for lightsaber combat. And it fits with form four because--”, he raised his voice anticipating her interruption, “it has the speed of Ataru.”

“But that’s the downfall of Ataru. Form four is too fast. Tires you out and weakens you quicker.”

“Thus...my modifications.” He smirked.

A grin of her own appeared. “You should probably tell everyone at once,” she motioned toward the other dueling students.

He chuckled. “Nah, they’re learning the approved modification. This one’s just for you, little one.”

She rolled her eyes again. Anakin had the feeling she did that a lot. “My name’s Ahsoka. Like I already told you. And...does that mean your modification isn’t approved?”

“Well,” he scratched at the back of his head, “I’d say it’s waiting to be under review.”

“Meaning you haven’t brought it to the Council. You just use it anyway.”

“Do you want to learn something or not?”

…

The class ended quicker than Anakin expected. He got into a good groove of monitoring the rest of the class and sparring with Ahsoka.

She was incredibly skilled and had managed to almost perfect his modifications.

Yoda returned in the last few minutes and observed Anakin. If the Grand Master noticed the differences in the curriculum he was doing with Ahsoka versus the rest of the class, he didn’t say anything.

When Yoda dismissed the group, Ahsoka got pulled into the large group and disappeared into the halls of the Temple without another word to Anakin.

“Padawan Skywalker. Enjoyed today, did you?” Yoda approached Anakin and shook him from his blank gaze at the door.

“Uh, what was that, Master?”

Yoda watched the young Jedi with an inquisitive eye. “Learned something today, hmm?”

“I learned that younglings are really interested in my fake hand.” Anakin tried to laugh it off. He really didn’t feel like getting pulled into a ridiculously long conversation with the small green Jedi.

“Singing, the Force is.” Yoda pressed. “About you and youngling.”

“The Force is probably just glad that I’m done with dealing with them.” he joked.

Yoda frowned. “Not to be taken lightly, the Force is. And younglings. Not to be overlooked.”

“I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t mean--”

“Ahsoka Tano.”

“What?” Anakin looked up. There was that prickling in his gut again. Is that what Yoda meant by singing. Anakin had never heard the Force so much as felt it, but it was certainly trying to tell him something.

“Ahsoka Tano. The youngling.”

“Oh. She’s...she gave me a bit of a hard time, but she’s pretty impressive.”

“Very skilled she is, with a lightsaber. And her temper. Familiar, hmm?”

Anakin looked at Yoda to see if the smile he heard was real. And there it was. Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, was making fun of him. 

“She certainly has energy.”

“Not chosen.”

“What?”

“Chosen by a Master, the youngling has not.”

The prickling inside him heightened to a point of physical discomfort. “Are you serious?”

How could a Jedi not have chosen her to be their Padawan by now? She had to be getting close to aging out. Clawmouse Clan was a senior initiate class after all. He had heard Jedi around the Temple talking about the younglings they would soon train and Clawmouse was almost always in the conversation.

It seemed impossible that none of those conversations had been about Ahsoka.

“Considered strongly by many, Ahsoka has. Not right, the Force says.”

“Not right?” Anakin scoffed. “How could none of them be right? She’s the most talented in her clan easily. Not to mention that she genuinely wants to learn. That’s exactly what masters are looking for!”

Yoda tilted his head, thoughtfully. “Surprised by this, you are?”

“She doesn’t deserve to go to the service corps.” He hadn’t known her longer than an hour, but he knew this to be true. Ahsoka Tano would make a great Jedi Knight one day.

“Great work, the service corps does. Important to the Republic.”

“I know, Master. I’m not trying to insinuate them being less than a Knight.” He shook his head apologetically. “I just think she’s meant for something else.”

“From the Force, this thought comes?”

Yes. But something about the way Yoda was looking at him made him nervous to answer honestly.

“No. Just a thought.”

“Hmm.” Yoda looked toward the hallway where all the students had exited a few minutes before. Anakin followed his gaze to see Ahsoka still standing in the hall. 

That was strange. The students only had half an hour for lunch, so there was no reason she should be wasting her time hovering about.

“A discussion, the youngling wants.”

“A discussion? With me? How do you know?”

Yoda hopped up from his chair and tapped Anakin lightly on the head with his walking stick. “Just a thought.” And with that, he left the classroom cackling loudly.

Anakin watched the small Jedi walk away, shaking his head to clear it of the weirdness of the past few minutes. As he stood to exit to the same hall, he was blocked by someone entering.

“Ahsoka?” He nodded at the young Jedi.

She stood in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot. “I...I wanted to say I’m sorry again for how I acted at the beginning of class. I was wrong. You’re…” she looked at the ground, “you’re a good teacher.”

Anakin studied her for a moment, before offering a small smile. “Good job today.”

“I uh, I’ve had a tough few weeks in my classes and...with the other students, so I was just in a bad mood. I should have been more mindful of my emotions.”

Something in her tone pushed him to dig deeper. “What do you mean by a tough few weeks?”

Togrutas don’t blush, but the way her eyes widened told Anakin that if she were a human, she’d be bright red. “Oh, uh nothing. Just that classes are hard.”

“From what I saw today, it doesn’t seem like you’re struggling in your classes.”

“I…” He watched her struggle with words for a few moments before graciously stopping her.

“When I joined the Order, I was too old. The whole council thought so and told me that pretty explicitly. It...hurt more than I wanted to admit at the time.”

He could tell she was confused by his sudden speech. But he could also tell she was listening.

“The whole situation was a weird one and it’s a story for another time, but the bottom line is that when I arrived here, I was in a place full of a lot of people who didn’t want anything to do with me.”

She looked up at this and opened her mouth, no doubt to defend herself, but he held up a hand to quiet her.

“It’s not that they were being cruel. I was just a liability. Looking back, I understand. When I dwell on it now, I still give in to my feelings more than I should...and that’s something I have to be mindful of every day. But in the end, it didn’t matter that no one seemed to want me.”

She looked at him directly now, those big blue eyes pulling an involuntary smile from him.

“One person did and that was enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“My master. Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“I know him,” Ahsoka nodded. “He teaches lessons sometimes.”

Anakin’s grin grew. “Yeah, he loves teaching. He’s good at it, too! Taught me everything, basically raised me. He’s the one who pulled me out of bed this morning when I missed my first class.”

A small smile played at Ahsoka’s lips. “Sounds like he stays pretty busy.”

Anakin nodded with a chuckle. “You have no idea.” He put a hand on her shoulder then, surprising both of them. “The Force is with you, Ahsoka. You’ll find that person. You’ll be taken on as a Padawan.”

She looked at him silently for a moment and Anakin panicked, thinking she was about to cry. But then she smiled a beaming smile and put her hand over his. “Thank you. For what it’s worth, I think you’re a great teacher, too. And when you’re knighted, the Padawan you take on is going to be lucky.”

Anakin laughed fully at this, dropping his hand from her shoulder. “Oh, that’s not ever happening.”

Ahsoka quirked an eyebrow.

“My teaching career ends here, young one. A Padawan would just slow me down.”

**Author's Note:**

> and then Yoda sweeps in riding on top of R2 cackling in full ESB style because boy oh boy is Anakin about to get DUNKED ON.


End file.
